Beyond the brain : how body and environment shape animal and human minds / Louise Barrett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barrett, Louise.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Brain--Evolution.

Brain.

Ecology.

Evolution (Biology).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (283 p.)

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

When a chimpanzee stockpiles rocks as weapons or when a frog sends out mating calls, we might easily assume these animals know their own motivations--that they use the same psychological mechanisms that we do. But as Beyond the Brain indicates, this is a dangerous assumption because animals have different evolutionary trajectories, ecological niches, and physical attributes. How do these differences influence animal thinking and behavior? Removing our human-centered spectacles, Louise Barrett investigates the mind and brain and offers an alternative approach for understanding animal and human cognition. Drawing on examples from animal behavior, comparative psychology, robotics, artificial life, developmental psychology, and cognitive science, Barrett provides remarkable new insights into how animals and humans depend on their bodies and environment--not just their brains--to behave intelligently. Barrett begins with an overview of human cognitive adaptations and how these color our views of other species, brains, and minds. Considering when it is worth having a big brain--or indeed having a brain at all--she investigates exactly what brains are good at. Showing that the brain's evolutionary function guides action in the world, she looks at how physical structure contributes to cognitive processes, and she demonstrates how these processes employ materials and resources in specific environments. Arguing that thinking and behavior constitute a property of the whole organism, not just the brain, Beyond the Brain illustrates how the body, brain, and cognition are tied to the wider world.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Removing Ourselves from the Picture

Chapter 2. The Anthropomorphic Animal

Chapter 3. Small Brains, Smart Behavior

Chapter 4. The Implausible Nature of Portia

Chapter 5. When Do You Need a Big Brain?

Chapter 6. The Ecology of Psychology

Chapter 7. Metaphorical Mind Fields

Chapter 8. There Is No Such Thing as a Naked Brain

Chapter 9. World in Action

Chapter 10. Babies and Bodies

Chapter 11. Wider than the Sky

Epilogue

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 21. Dez 2019)

ISBN:

9786613012111

9781283012119

1283012111

9781400838349

1400838347

OCLC:

705539228